$119,600 in 1995
is worth
$200,634.10
in 2019

Value of $119,600 from 1995 to 2019

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics consumer price index, prices in 2019 are
67.75% higher than
average prices since 1995.
The U.S. dollar experienced an average inflation rate of 2.18% per year during this period, causing the real value of a dollar to decrease.

In other words, $119,600 in 1995 is equivalent in purchasing power to about $200,634.10 in 2019, a difference of $81,034.10 over 24 years.

The 1995 inflation rate was 2.83%. The inflation rate in 2019 was 1.76%.
The 2019 inflation rate is higher compared to the average inflation rate of 0.29% per year between 2019 and 2020.

Seattle, Washington experienced the highest rate of inflation during the 24 years between 1995 and 2019 (4.06%).

Chicago, Illinois experienced the lowest rate of inflation during the 24 years between 1995 and 2019 (1.91%).

Note that some locations showing 0% inflation may have not yet reported latest data.

Inflation by Country

Inflation can also vary widely by country. For comparison, in the UK £119,600.00 in 1995 would be equivalent to £228,021.21 in 2019, an absolute change of £108,421.21 and a cumulative change of 90.65%.

In Canada, CA$119,600.00 in 1995 would be equivalent to CA$181,715.72 in 2019, an absolute change of CA$62,115.72 and a cumulative change of 51.94%.

Compare these numbers to the US's overall absolute change of $81,034.10 and total percent change of 67.75%.

Inflation by Spending Category

CPI is the weighted combination of many categories of spending that are tracked by the government. Breaking down these categories helps explain the main drivers behind price changes. This chart shows the average rate of inflation for select CPI categories between 1995 and 2019.

$119,600 in 1995 has the same "purchasing power" or "buying power" as $200,634.10 in 2019.

To get the total inflation rate for the 24 years between 1995 and 2019, we use the following formula:

CPI in 2019 - CPI in 1995CPI in 1995

×

100

=

Cumulative inflation rate (24 years)

Plugging in the values to this equation, we get:

255.6575 - 152.4152.4

×

100

=

68%

Alternate Measurements of Inflation

The above data describe the CPI for all items. Also of note is the Core CPI, which measures inflation for all items except for the more volatile categories of food and energy.
Core inflation averaged 2.06% per year between 1995 and 2019 (vs all-CPI inflation of 2.18%), for an inflation total of 63.28%.

When using the core inflation measurement, $119,600 in 1995 is equivalent in buying power to $195,285.47 in 2019, a difference of $75,685.47. Recall that for All Items, the converted amount is $200,634.10 with a difference of $81,034.10.

In 1995, core inflation was 2.99%.

Comparison to S&P 500 Index

The average inflation rate of 2.18% has a compounding effect between 1995 and 2019. As noted above, this yearly inflation rate compounds to produce an overall price difference of 67.75% over 24 years.

To help put this inflation into perspective, if we had invested $119,600 in the S&P 500 index in 1995, our investment would be nominally worth approximately $1,342,591.06 in 2019. This is a return on investment of 1,022.57%, with an absolute return of $1,222,991.06 on top of the original $119,600.

These numbers are not inflation adjusted, so they are considered nominal. In order to evaluate the real return on our investment, we must calculate the return with inflation taken into account.

The compounding effect of inflation would account for 40.39% of returns ($542,259.06) during this period. This means the inflation-adjusted real return of our $119,600 investment is $680,731.99. You may also want to account for capital gains tax, which would take your real return down to around $578,622 for most people.

Investment in S&P 500 Index, 1995-2019

Original Amount

Final Amount

Change

Nominal

$119,600

$1,342,591.06

1,022.57%

RealInflation Adjusted

$119,600

$800,331.99

569.17%

Information displayed above may differ slightly from other S&P 500 calculators. Minor discrepancies can occur because we use the latest CPI data for inflation, annualized inflation numbers for previous years, and we compute S&P price and dividends from January of 1995 to latest available data for 2019 using average monthly close price.

News headlines from 1995

Politics and news often influence economic performance. Here's what was happening at the time:

Bosnian Serbs massacre over 7,000 Bosnian Muslims in Srebrenica.

Scientists discover the Hale-Bopp Comet; which later became visible to the naked eye.

Signing of the Dayton Agreement in Paris in order to end conflicts between former Yugoslavian republics

170 countries agree to the unconditional and indefinite extending of the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty.

Austria, Finland and Sweden accede to the European Union.

Data Source & Citation

Raw data for these calculations comes from
the Bureau of Labor Statistics'
Consumer Price Index
(CPI), established in 1913. Inflation data from 1665 to
1912 is sourced from a historical study conducted by political science
professor Robert Sahr at Oregon State University.

You may use the following MLA citation for this page:
“$119,600 in 1995 → 2019 | Inflation Calculator.” Official Inflation Data, Alioth Finance, 7 Jun. 2020, https://www.officialdata.org/1995-dollars-in-2019?amount=119600.

About the author

Ian Webster is an engineer and data expert based in San Mateo, California. He has worked for Google, NASA, and consulted for governments around the world on data pipelines and data analysis. Disappointed by the lack of clear resources on the impacts of inflation on economic indicators, Ian believes this website serves as a valuable public tool. Ian earned his degree in Computer Science from Dartmouth College.